SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) - “Smurfs: The Lost Village” was never a serious threat to DreamWorks' “The Boss Baby” or Disney’s “Beauty and the Beast,” but it was expected to perform better than the $14 million it brought in over the weekend. That’s not too far off from the $16 million most were predicting, but that’s less than the $17.5 million “The Smurfs 2” opened to in 2013 and a fraction of the $35-million opening that “The Smurfs” had in 2011. “The Lost Village,” a fully animated reboot for the franchise, is leaps and bounds better than its predecessors, but clearly audiences weren’t all that interested.

“Smurfs” might not have been the soup du jour, but “The Boss Baby” and “Beauty and the Beast” both had strong weekends. "The Boss Baby" retains first place with an estimated $26.3 million (a drop of 47 percent from last week), but "Beauty and the Beast" still impresses with $25 million. Oh, and its worldwide total of $977 million guarantees that by this time next week the film will surpass the $1 billion mark. Last year only "Captain America: Civil War" and "Rogue One: A Star Wars Story" were able to hit that mark.

“Ghost in the Shell” was expected to find itself in fourth place, but “Going in Style,” a heist comedy starring Morgan Freeman, Michael Caine and Alan Arkin, blew past modest expectations and finished the weekend with $12.5 million. “Ghost in the Shell” does land in fifth place, but its $7.3 million is merely a consolation prize. To pour a little salt on the wound, the film's opening weekend in China managed just $20.3 million. That's not a terrible total, but I'm sure the studio was looking for an opening comparable to the $60 million that "xXx: The Return of Xander Cage" had earlier this year. Still, the worldwide total is now at $124 million. Now, if the film can only double that, then it might break even.

Next week we’ll see “The Fate of the Furious” land in theaters. Expect jaw-dropping numbers as Universal’s money-making machine ushers in Easter weekend.

But, you should really be excited to have the chance to see Chris Evans, Octavia Spencer and the wonderful Mckenna Grace in "Gifted" starting on Wednesday, April 12.